Dan Beerens, vice president of learning services at Christian Schools International, focuses on Christian education in his blog Nurturing Faith. In this blog entry, he writes about case studies, an instructional strategy you can use to help your students connect what they study and Biblical teaching.

Colson has pointed out that there are four basic questions that everyone deals with in constructing their worldview:

1. Where did I come from?
2. Why am I here?
3. Where am I going?
4. Does life have any meaning and purpose?

How will we help our youth deal with these questions? A helpful teaching tool that has been used in business, law, and medicine has been the case study. Case studies are basically stories with an educational message. They deal specifically with people in action and the consequences of their actions and behavior. Case studies help us compare what values are being applied and what worldview is being advanced. The example at the beginning of this post could be considered a simple case study.

There are a couple of excellent resources I recommend you consider for work with older students:

1. A book for use with teens and young adults called No Easy Answers: Making Good Decisions in an Anything-Goes World written by Bob Rozema and Dan Vander Ark – available from Faith Alive Christian Resources.
2. Exploring Ethics book for grades 9-12 that is available from CSI.

Are there other case study resources that you have found helpful?